Kayla Martell started losing her hair at age 10 from alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder that causes the body to attack its own hair follicles. But that didn’t stop her from becoming Miss Delaware 2010 – even after a judge told her she couldn’t win without hair. In this exclusive Lifescript interview, she reveals her experiences growing up with alopecia hair loss and what it taught her about life...

Kayla Martell isn’t your typical beauty queen.

She exudes enormous self-confidence, not because she spends hours in front of the mirror teasing her hair.

In fact, she’s nearly bald.

But Martell isn’t sick with cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.

She has a condition called alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair to fall out all over the body.

For many of the 5 million U.S. people with alopecia areata, hair loss can appear anywhere, from eyebrows to nose hairs.

They often become completely hairless, damaging their self-esteem and body image.

That’s not the case with the 24-year-old Martell. Her hair loss hasn’t hurt her confidence.

In fact, she competed for the Miss Delaware crown without hair three times before finally winning the title in 2010.

“A judge told me, ‘You’ll never become Miss Delaware without a wig,’” she says. “Thankfully, I had good people supporting me.”

Now, Martell is using her title to draw awareness about alopecia hair loss and challenge people’s ideas of beauty. At the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF) conference in Los Angeles recently, Martell spoke with Lifescript about her road to self-acceptance.

Are you as comfortable being bald as you seem?I am. I’ve had [alopecia] for 13 years [and] lots of time to deal with it. I realized the sooner I accepted it, the sooner other people would too.

How old were you when diagnosed?I was 11.

How did you cope?My best friend passed away the same year I lost my hair. Although that was awful to go through, it put life into perspective for me, because I realized that losing my hair is so much less serious than all the other reasons out there to get upset.

You could lose your life.

Watch Martell and Mari chat about her diagnosis and competing for the crown.

What were the treatment options when you were young?The only thing my doctor was willing to try was cortisone injections, which were so painful.

Although they made my hair grow in, it just wasn’t a commitment I was willing to make for the rest of my life.

Leaving school to have this awful chemical put into your body just didn’t make any sense for me.

How did it feel to win the Miss Delaware 2010 crown?It probably was one of the biggest moments of my life because I had worked five years – and probably longer – to achieve this goal I had always dreamed about.

To hear your name called for this job of a lifetime was incredible – and to go to the Miss America pageant was a dream come true.

Did you compete in the pageant without hair?I did. I competed in the Miss Delaware pageant three times without wearing a wig and ultimately placed fourth runner-up, which is the highest place [I had placed] without a wig.

I have no regrets competing without it, although one judge did say [to me] that I would never become Miss Delaware or Miss America if I didn’t wear a wig.

I didn’t let it stop me. It was one person’s opinion.

Did friends or family members try to discourage you from beauty pageants?My fiancé’s family – I love them so much – were telling me, “Maybe we should stop,” because competing five times was just ludicrous to them.

They thought after one time, you give it up – especially after a judge says you’ll never become Miss Delaware without a wig.

Who backed your decision to keep competing?My immediate family was so supportive.

They said, “As long as you’re happy, then we’re happy. If you want to walk away, we’ll walk right away with you. But if you want to give this another shot, then maybe let’s take another approach.”

So, ultimately I decided to wear a wig [and] won.

Thank goodness they did, because one year after that judge made that comment, [I won].

Has your title helped draw attention to and raise research funds for alopecia areata?My favorite part about being Miss Delaware is the opportunity to bring awareness to alopecia areata.

Aside from raising money, I wanted new [people] to know what alopecia hair loss meant – and to understand there are a million reasons for baldness.

Often, when people meet [those with alopecia], they assume we’re going through chemotherapy.

We want them to know we’re OK and not going through a terminal condition.

Do you have other symptoms besides hair loss?[No, but] I have a few other conditions – a new heart condition, asthma, joint pains and a thyroid condition – Hashimoto’s disease [which occurs when your immune system attacks your thyroid].

Hair loss is the least of my worries.

Are these conditions related?They’re not, but doctors feel there may be some connection with my body attacking itself.

All the conditions I’ve developed are relatively new and don’t run in my family.

On the other hand, they’re not connected to alopecia.

Hashimoto’s disease is tough to treat. Is it difficult to balance hormone levels?Yes, I get blood work done every two weeks.

Once my thyroid became more in control, I noticed some hair growth.

The two are probably more connected than I realize.

What is your heart condition?It’s called neurocardiogenic syncope. Neuro: meaning connection to the brain. Cardio: from the heart – and syncope meaning passing out.

I’ve had it only three months now.

It’s related to my blood pressure and the way that my heart makes the connection to my brain.

[My blood] just wasn’t circulating the way it was supposed to.

I was losing consciousness when I should have been able to stay on my feet and awake.

We think it’s under control now, and I take four pills a day for it.

Hopefully, it’ll be fine.

You look like the picture of health now. How do you get through days when you’re not feeling 100%?I’m very driven.

I also like being in control of my life.

That’s the hardest thing to get past.

With alopecia, a heart condition, asthma or thyroid condition, it’s important for me to accept that I’m not in control of that.

The best thing I can do is take care of myself, be well, healthy and live a healthy lifestyle.

That is all that I can be in control of.

Was that acceptance hard for you?It’s very difficult for someone, especially a young person like myself, to accept. Young people [believe] they can control all the little things.

Do you eat a healthy diet?I do eat relatively healthily. I eat anywhere between 3-5 times a day.

I make sure to keep up my metabolism and energy levels because I’m constantly on the go.

Sometimes that means eating a salad or a vegetable, and sometimes it means eating a leaner protein.

I eat like a normal person at restaurants.

I get what I want, but make up by eating a healthier dinner that night or the next day.

Do you have any food cheats?I love food.

I have a Southern family – my father’s from Kentucky – and we’re all big cooks and love to bake.

My favorite thing in the world is chocolate – in any form. Milkshakes, cookies, brownies… it doesn’t matter. I have a piece every day.

I’m also tempted with soda, [which] I try to limit as much as possible.

If you deprive yourself, then you want it even more and end up overcompensating, which is just as bad.

The only time I noticed [an improvement was] right before the Miss America pageant.

I was the healthiest I’ve ever been and eating completely clean. I had given up caffeine, and my hair started to grow.

It’s just not a lifestyle I’m willing to commit myself to for the rest of my life just for a few strands of hair.

What’s your most important message about alopecia hair loss?That this condition just means, literally, the loss of hair and it can come in different forms.

People who have lost their hair as a result of alopecia areata can be very healthy and lead normal, typical lives.

They don’t want to be felt sorry for or be treated differently. They just want to be accepted and feel normal.

The first step to that goal is for them to accept themselves – and the second is other people accepting them too.

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